The ultimate protest against homophobia
| Reading time: 3 minutes
That’s what Landon Donovan says about abandoning the game
Landon Donovan’s team, San Diego Loyal, are closed after a player on his team was allegedly homophobically insulted by an opponent on the field. Here the former Bayern professional explains what happened.
US soccer legend Landon Donovan now works as a coach in San Diego. One of his players is openly gay. When he is insulted on the pitch, ex-Bayern professional Donovan reacts. And so accepts a defeat.
Landon Donovan’s soccer club San Diego Loyal has closed after a player on the team was allegedly homophobically insulted by an opponent on the field. When the score was 3: 1 against Phoenix Rising in the second American division USL Championship, Donovan (38), the record scorer of the US national team, took his eleven off the field.
Shortly before half-time, Phoenix player Junior Flemmings allegedly insulted midfielder Collin Martin after he had seen the red card. According to Donovan, Martin reported the incident to the fourth official himself on the sidelines.
First, the team from San Diego went into the dressing room. There it was decided: If the player who is said to have spoken the insult is not sent off, San Diego will not continue playing, reported Donovan, who played for Bayer Leverkusen in 1999/2000 and for Bayern Munich in 2009. There was no other choice, because “if they don’t act, we’ll do it,” said the 157-time US international: “The referee heard Flemmings shout something to Martin. He told me there was nothing he could do. He doesn’t know what the word that was called meant, ”said Donovan. Donovan then went to the opposing coach and asked him to take Junior Flemmings off the seat. When this did not happen, he had to take the initiative himself.
“I’ll talk. I will act “
And it looked like this: Before the start of the second half, the team went on their knees with Martin, who had actually been sent off the field, and went off the pitch with the kickoff. Martin pulled the jersey over his face. His teammates hugged him. “I’ll talk. I will act ”, it read on the display board. A little later, the referee ended the game with a whistle.
Donovan was clear: “Nobody will remember that we beat Phoenix 3-1 at home. But my players will remember standing up for something they believe in. And that they supported their teammates and did the right thing. ”This is what counts for him -“ more than anything else, ”said the team’s coach.
“I felt personally attacked,” said Martin, whose opponent Flemmings rejected the allegations. He did not offend anyone, he wrote on Twitter.
Martin came out two years ago
Martin later reported that he was the only one on his team who wanted the game to continue. But Donovan and his teammates had insisted on leaving the field and abandoning the game. “I have the greatest respect for Landon, my team-mates and the whole club,” said Martin, who struggled for words in the interview and repeated himself several times in his thanks.
Martin had come out as homosexual two years ago, as the first male athlete in one of the largest American professional leagues. At that time he was still playing in the first-class Major League Soccer.
Just last week, San Diego’s Elijah Martin was racially insulted by opponent Omar Ontiveros in a duel with LA Galaxy II. Donovan’s team had already vowed to show a clear reaction to such actions. This has now happened impressively. During the game against Phoenix, it was planned that both teams would show solidarity with the racially insulted Elijah Martin, the game would be briefly interrupted and a banner would be unfurled. But that didn’t happen.
The league has opened an investigation into the case. After the game was abandoned, the points were initially credited to Phoenix.
.
